When this amendment was written, it couldn't have been to get rid of capital punishment, because it was practiced in those days. Years ago, the common methods were hangings or firing squads. Since 1976, one person has been executed by a firing squad and two people legally hanged. But times are changing and so is the view of capital punishment being cruel and unusual.

In some situations, capital punishment can be cruel and unusual. For example, if the person is not guilty of the crime he was convicted of. But, in this case, simply being in jail would be a cruel and unusual punishment for an innocent man. Another example is if something goes wrong with the equipment being used to kill the person, causing him to go through great pain and suffering before dying. Or if the person lives and the method of killing him has to be administered again. This happened on May 4, 1990 in Florida. It took three attempts of 2,000-volt shocks in the electric chair to kill a man named Jesse Tafero. This obviously would cause a person a lot of pain and suffering and definitely fall under the category of cruel and unusual.

The meaning of the words cruel and unusual can apply to other situations other than capital punishment and life in prison. For example, if parents beat their child f

Some common words found in the essay are:
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Approximate Word count = 619
Approximate Pages = 2 (250 words per page double spaced)